Your True Mission – The Story of Esther
05-16-2012
God is on redemptive mission to Change the World – Physical and Spiritual. He made you to align your life with his mission. We all have a part to play in redemptive history, His mission, and it is particular to our gifts and passion. God wants us to align our life with his mission. This is our true mission. But it is so easy for us to slip into our dark mission. Something selfish. If seems good, and you can even dress it in “God” language, but its really all about you. Your dark mission is a shadow of your true mission. Here is the message. The series encapsulated in one statement: Your life’s impact is determined by your commitment to your true mission. We chose one of the most epic stories in all of the Story of God, Esther. Its filled with characters that battle a true mission with a dark mission. Main Idea :: If you do not embrace your true mission, you can’t help but fulfill your dark mission. There is no 3rd path. It is either: A life of Kingdom Impact, or, a wasted life. Your dark mission is your true mission skewed by your ego and wounds. This series is about your role in the Story of God. And determining your personal vision for your life, according your own design, background, and experiences. If you will track with us all summer long, you will learn how to know, engineer, and align your life to God’s calling on your life.
(Click for live links) The sermon is here. I had a lot of fun with the content of this message. While I was tired from serveATL Saturday (It was awesome!), I believe the content came across and we got a good way down the road in our conversation on Evolution and Intelligent Design. Remember we are not talking about Micro-Evolution. Species are built with the ability to adapt to changes in their environment. Examples sited: Blood thickening and thinning over seasonal change and skin color darkening of every people group that lives many generations nearer to the equator. Macro-Evolution is the change in species toward more sophistication through genetic mutation and natural selection. Given the right molecules for life plus enough time and chance, the complexity of a single cell can form. And through genetic mutation, species can change to more complex and sophisticated species. Here are the videos I showed in the service. There are also more to view here. The Cell Macro-Evolution explained Genetic Mutation I made the point that belief in the Big Bang Theory or Macro-Evolution or both does not require you to conclude there is not God due to the well known, observed and repeated, laws of nature called “Conservation of Mass”, “Conservation or Energy”, “Principle of Causality.” In fact, many physicists and biologist believe in God for these reasons and I think the evidence overwhelmingly leads you to an intelligent being. As for the origin of life and species change, I made the point about Entropy. That, belief in Macro-Evolution (Genetic Mutation) as a worldview for how life began and evolved into greater complexity (species change) is inconsistent with a known, observed and repeated, law in the natural world called “Entropy” (H). It is the 2nd law of thermodynamics and says all molecules left alone move towards disorder (never order). I wondered if there was any credible discussion on this topic and was excited to find biologists have started connecting it to life and life’s origins! They are on the right track, but still not connecting it to the “genetic mutation” argument Macro-Evolutionists use as the primary evidence for how species move toward sophistication/complexity. Wikipedia’s discussion on Entropy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy Talk started on Wikipedia about this here, middle of page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Entropy Entropy and Life – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_and_life For more study: Book – “Fatal flaws” by Hank Hanegraaff YouTube.com – Search any “William Lane Craig, Ravi Zaccharias,…
(Click the post itself for live weblinks.) I apologize for the length of the last two Sundays. They needed to be long because I didn’t want to be trite with the legitimacy of the questions or their answers. We should be back to normal times going forward. Also, I came across this video when doing some prep for next weeks talk this afternoon (Sunday afternoon) – Video. This person is hurting. And rightfully so. I get it and feel the same things every time I see images like those. Whether you believe in the particulars of Genesis 3 or not, there is no creation account that gives a better explanation for the state of the world as we find it. The podcast is here, Evidence p3 :: Why do bad things happen to good people? Here is a brief summary of the sermon notes, tweeted out during the sermon. Who is this God we are dealing with? If we can discover who this God is, then we can answer Why and Where is God in the face of evil. At the beginning of the Story, God had things set up just the way he wanted. God dwelled with men and women and every need was met. The world knew no evil. For love to be true love, God had to give absolute free will. A choice to walk away. God knows any true relationship is founded upon “want to”, not “have to.” When the creation detaches from the Creator, it opens up potential for evil of all kinds. When the beings who were given life detached themselves from the source of life, it meant the world would not operate as God originally intended. “You will experience death” meant the existence of disease, broken relationships, natural disasters, moral evil, and physical death. God hates the effects of evil more than we do. God went to work to change the effects of evil as soon as death entered the world. And promised to end it one day. At the end of time, God gets to do what he longs for. He moves in to dwell with man. Because of this, the opportunity for salvation is over. A holy God can not become one with something that is less than holy, else it would change his holiness. God waits to rid the world of evil so as many people as possible can receive…
Evidence p2 :: Is the Bible Reliable?
04-15-2012
What an amazing day. The Q&A session after 2nd service was great! Be sure to budget time for it next week as we cover “Evil :: Why bad things happen to good people.” Main Idea :: The Bible comes alive when the historical becomes personal. Resources YouVersion.com – A website and app devoted to giving you multiple translations of the Bible for free, among other free options. An incredible resource you should explore. LifeWay Christian Bookstore – There’s one in Kennesaw and Douglasville. Family Bookstores are awesome too. If you dont want to drive you can click the link and buy things online. Parents! Teach your kids the Bible at home. SeedsFamilyWorship.com – Memorize scripture with your kids through songs. Landon, Lincoln and I dance in front of the TV as it plays through the DVD to these songs and we memorize scripture. It’s become more for mommy and I memorizing than the kids. The “Seeds of Purpose” CD is my favorite. “Read with Me Bible” – Dennis Jones This Bible is unbelievable. Landon (3yrs) brings this Bible to me when I come home and he asks me to read 10 stories to him before he is tired of reading it. The artwork is what makes this so incredible. “The Baby Bible StoryBook” – David Cook This is the Bible I read to Landon from 1-3 yrs. Lincoln is just getting into it. Don’t forget we have a 9:30am service now and to register for serveATL.com (or serveCOBB.com, same event).
If you weren’t there we had a phenomenal 1st ever Easter at Vinings Church. 27 first time guests, over 200 in attendance and the most important number of all: 8 people placed their faith in Christ. With the elements from our creative team and set up crew, not to mention our amazing concierge team greeting folks, it was an epic day. And the best is yet to come. Main Idea :: If Jesus Christ really rose from the dead, it changes everything for you and for me. We looked at the 4 alternative theories held by intellectuals: The Swoon Theory :: Jesus didn’t die and resuscitated in the tomb over the course of 3 days. The Wrong Tomb Theory :: Everyone went back to the wrong tomb. The Stolen Body Theory :: The disciples overtook the guard and stole the body. The Hallucination Theory :: In the 40 period Jesus walked around, over 500 people hallucinated that Jesus was alive in their midst. All variation theories of what happened that day fall into one of those 4 categories. The only other alternative is Jesus rose from the dead. Listen to the talk here to decide what you believe. Luke 23 was our central passage (click for YouVersion). Thank you to all the volunteers who made this an incredible day!
Christmas Series begins this Sunday!
11-26-2011
We are planning a magical Christmas at Vinings Church! The series starts tomorrow at 11:15am. The preview video is here. But most importantly, we are doing two things to help those in need this year. At our Vinings Church Christmas Party, December 9th, we are going to take up an offering to help a family who can’t afford Christmas this year. I am hoping that you will write in to adopt a family. Last year we took up enough to help 2 families at the Christmas party alone, and 7 of you wrote in to take on a family yourself. I am praying for 20 families helped through Vinings Church this year. We are also taking up a BELIEVE offering this Christmas to help families who can’t afford Christmas for their kids. 50% of it will be used to help charities and 50% will go into future land and building for Vinings Church. Dont miss tomorrow. More to come on the blog.
The Voice of God
11-22-2011
Today was “What if…” Sunday at Vinings Church. “What if no volunteers showed up?” We tell our volunteers all the time “We couldn’t do this without you. We decided to show you we couldn’t do it without you. What makes Vinings Church “VININGS Church” is our volunteers. Thank you. Be sure to see the Recap of Night of Worship later that night. Sermon recap :: Our life is just the sum total of all the decisions we make. I married him, I didnt marry him, I took that job, we decided to have kids early in our marriage, etc. We try to make decisions based on what God says. But we all know the feeling of walking down a road we saw many open doors, only to find it end in total disaster. How do you know whether you are hearing from God when we see what looks to be an open door? This Sunday we spoke directly into the Christian “open door/closed door” policy. David had a situation in I Sam 24 where it just seemed God had rolled out the red carpet to kill Saul with an unbelievable set of open doors. But David was able to determine Gods will for his decision by looking beyond his open door circumstances to something else. That something else was the written word of God. God will never say anything through open doors he has already spoken against in his written word. God loves you. So God cares about your decisions. And God created communication so that makes him the best communicator. God cares more about you hearing his voice than you care about hearing his voice. So…he has written his will down for 90% of all the decisions you make in your life. He is the avenues God speaks in order of priority: The Bible – Genesis to Revelation Prayer – Thinking through the decisions of your day with God asking “What would you do?” Wise Counsel – Godly friends Divine Destiny – God’s calling for your life. A clear picture of what you want for the future. Open Doors – Circumstances God does speak through open doors, but he will never say something through circumstance that contradicts something he has said in the other four. Know the voice of God.
Night of Worship – 6 Baptisms
11-21-2011
We baptized SIX people Sunday!!! Wow. It was our first Baptism at Vinings Church!!! God is doing something incredible through us. It was a night of 1sts: 1st baptism, our 1st corporate communion time together, 1st volunteer appreciation, and 1st time 3 worship leaders lead a band through 10 epic songs of faith as he praised God’s faithfulness through our Fall launch. We have launched healthy Vinings Church! God has done the miraculous. 44 people who have trusted Christ, a deal with an elite facility (Cobb Galleria), and two incredible series where God has spoken to us from his Word about our identity and purpose in Jesus Christ. Thank you for an incredible first 2 months!!! All of our volunteers were appreciated with a Vinings Church Hoodie. And special honor was given to those who have gone above and beyond with service and generosity. Thank you to all who have sacrificed so much, you have seen God work through the work of your hands. God is blessing your faith. I am so proud to be associated with this group of people.
Emotional Intelligence
11-13-2011
Our first Sunday inside the Cobb Galleria! I went into it with high hopes, and it turned out better than planned. Our teams really worked hard to make it a Sunday we didnt miss our usual home in the Waverly. Mission accomplished. Sermon Recap :: There are some emotions you can feel that can move you beyond the boundaries youve set up for your life. Some negative feelings, that can move you to behaviors you’ve warned others against. Some of those feelings are: Anger, Fear, Rejection and Loneliness. Everyone feels these emotions. None of us are immune, no matter the personality. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to sense these emotions, avoid your knee-jerk reaction, and realize God is preparing you. Difficulties. Problems. Its the way God prepares a man or woman of faith who believes God designed them for greatness. David forgot it at Nob when he was running for his life (I Sam 21). Not only did he derail his life for a breif stint, he saw his knee-jerk reaction cause the massacre of an entire town. God is preparing you for what He has prepared for you. You have a divine destiny! You arent going through anything different that other believers go through. Embrace Gods unique preparation process for you.
Image p1 :: God shaped greatness
11-07-2011
The Image series began with a bang! Im so impressed with all our leaders and ministry teams! And we are growing. It means you are inviting your friends, engaging in God’s mission for Atlanta through inviting your sphere of influence! The Image series concept is “You are formed with a Divine Design. You are shaped for a Divine Destiny.” Our foundational scripture is David’s Psalm 139:13-16 and throughout the series we will journey through early life of David to determine how God shapes greatness. You have a choice. You can choose to believe what the world says about you or what God says is true about you. Regardless of what you believe, you will see the same reflection looking back at you in the mirror (ie: Picture). But who you choose to listen to makes all the difference. One will make you feel inadequate and guilty; one will lead to inspiration and destiny. Today, we said the desire for greatness sitting in every man and woman was put there by God. Greatness, that will glorify God and lead people to himself. It’s part of the image of God inside you. God designed our every attribute in our mother’s womb and he knew the destiny he wanted for us before he formed us. The best choice you can make is to embrace your “Divine Design” and “Divine Destiny.” Once you do, God will initiate a preparation process to shape greatness in your life as he did in David’s life. We looked at the attributes God’s uses to shape greatness in your life. In order to find them we looked at was true of David in the events leading to his great encounter with Goliath. They are in the sermon (see podcast). My prayer is this Image series would inspire a church full of men and women to seek greatness, as God defines greatness, to lead a confused and hurting world to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
